Anime Network Launches on Sprint to Mobile Subscribers
Giving anime fans the ultimate reason to phone their friends, Anime Network has announced a deal with Sprint (NYSE: S) to provide its mobile video content to Sprint Power Vision subscribers. America’s #1 Anime Channel is available first to Sprint Power Vision subscribers on select multimedia handsets on Sprint TV’s Channel 66. Sprint subscribers can access clips from up to five premium titles at a price point of an additional $4.95 per month (standard data charges apply).
‘We are thrilled at the opportunity to expand our distribution to new platforms, such as mobile phones, and we’re delighted to partner with Sprint in reaching and entertaining their subscribers,’ said Kevin McFeeley, Anime Network’s Vice President of Affiliate Sales and New Media.
Anime programming-delivered to Sprint through Zoovision-includes a wide range of genres such as Horror, Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy and Drama. Titles premiering in conjunction with the launch are:
· Mezzo (Action) - In futuristic Tokyo, androids and high-tech gadgets are everywhere, and a group known as the Danger Service Agency (DSA) exists to take on the country’s riskiest jobs at a price.
· Kino’s Journey (Action) - A wielder of cutlery, firepower and a piercing tongue, Kino is a traveler on a search for life’s answers, ready to embark on a journey unlike any other.
· Divergence Eve (Sci-fi) - The Watcher’s Nest, a relay and colonization station in deep space, has been hindered by the invasion of Ghouls, alien creatures from a parallel universe. Its fate lies in the hands of an 18-year-old Special Ops recruit on her first mission.
· Wandaba Style (Comedy) - The members of J-pop band ‘Mixed Juice’ are determined to make it to the top, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get there! Down on their luck, the band mates team up with a genius mad scientist to become the first band on the moon.
· MEGAMAN (Action) - A power-mad genius and his gang of evil robots are trying to take over the world, and no one can stop them except for MEGAMAN, a young hero with nerves of steel, a robot body and the power to mimic any weapon he sees and use it for the forces of good.
Anime Network is already available to its ravenous viewership on a variety of platforms-24/7 ‘linear’ channel, video-on-demand (VOD), subscription-based video-on-demand (SVOD), pay-per-view (PPV) and transactional-for both cable and satellite subscribers. Today’s announcement marks a new platform offering for the Network, which has seen its reach more than triple in less than two years.
Launched in late 2002 as a free VOD service on Comcast, Anime Network bears distinction of being the first network in North America to successfully transition from a VOD-only offering to a 24/7 linear service. Its rich lineup of programming is viewable as a 24/7 linear channel through 17 different service providers, and as a VOD service through 22 service providers. Anime Network has quickly become the largest VOD offering and one of the most popular SVOD services available today, with over 95% penetration to all VOD-enabled households.